Imaging Center moves into new home

Bob Prather, left, and Tim Stegall go through their training on a new MRI machine installed at the The Imaging Center’s new facility on South Gloster on Monday. (Thomas Wells)

By Michaela Gibson Morris
Daily Journal

TUPELO – The Imaging Center will welcome patients to its new South Gloster Street location today.

Tupelo radiologist Dr. Mike Currie and his staff spent the weekend moving into the new building across the street from its original location at Gloster Creek Professional/Medical Mall. On Monday, technicians were training on new MRI and CT scanners as construction crews were making finishing touches.

The new facility allows the Imaging Center team to continue building on the patient-centered model they have used for the past 10 years, Currie said.

“The technicians and the patients really like it,” because it allows for more interaction, he said.

When Currie first opened The Imaging Center in 2003, leasing space in Gloster Creek was the best choice, especially since he had a number of professional commitments.

Ten years later, outpatient medical imaging is well-established, and his staff thought the timing was right for The Imaging Center to have its own home.

“It made good economic sense,” Currie said.

The new building cost about $3 million to build. Incorporating new equipment, including a new MRI and CT scanner, cost another $1.5 million.

As it has at its former location, The Imaging Center will continue to offer nuclear medicine, X-ray, bone density screening, ultrasound and mammography.

Along with the new space, The Imaging Center team also has a new physician. Dr. Jeffrey O’Rear joined practice last month.

The New Orleans native is a graduated of Louisiana State University and LSU School of Medicine. He completed his residency training in radiology at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis and just finished a fellowship focused on musculoskeletal imaging at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.

“I was able to work with Dr. Currie during my residency in Memphis,” O’Rear said. “He has a unique approach.”

Open space
The Imaging Center’s move from Gloster Creek leaves an opportunity for another health care business to move into a space already adapted for their purposes.

“We have a strong medical presence already,” said Sean Koehn, one of the partners who took over the professional-medical mall just over a year ago.

Work is underway to redesign the South Gloster entrance, which will funnel even more traffic toward the center court east entrance where the 13,000-square-foot medical office is located.

“We could make it a bigger space, if needed,” Koehn said, because of openings in adjacent spaces.